Happy St Patrick’s Day!

Here are a few appropriate photos for today that I took over the past few weeks, starting with this house in Takoma Park that has lit shamrocks in the windows.

I also saw a couple of inflatable leprechauns along with more shamrock images at a local Wegman’s.

Yesterday I did some grocery shopping. First I went to Aldi, where I found this mix for Guinness beer bread where all you need to add is Guinness beer and molasses—both of which I already had. In the past I’ve baked Guinness beer bread from scratch using this recipe but I decided to be lazy this year and give the mix a try. If I end up not liking it, I can always make the other beer bread using that recipe at a later date.

After I went to Aldi I headed over to Giant because I needed a few items that Aldi didn’t have in stock. While I was there I saw that Tastykake had a special version of its Snowballs snack cake which had green icing instead of the usual white icing. I bought it on impulse and I’ll probably end up eating it for dessert after dinner tonight.

After I shopped at Giant I headed over to The Space where that makerspace had some small blank circular pillows where people can draw emojis on them. I decided to draw some Irish-themed emojis since it was close to St. Patrick’s Day. Here is one side of the pillow.

And here’s the other side.

A Birthday Trip to Baltimore and Glen Burnie, December 15, 2016

 

 

 

 

Last year I planned on going to Baltimore to celebrate my birthday at Christmas Village in Baltimore. I had to scuttle those plans because my birthday fell on a Tuesday and it turns out that the place was closed on certain Tuesdays including my birthday. (I ended up going to Tyson’s Corner instead and I still had fun last year.)

This year my birthday fell on a Thursday so I decided to go to Baltimore, just like I planned last year. I was determined to go there despite the fact that the Polar Vortex had just arrived in my area so the temperatures plunged to below freezing. (I basically wore a heavy winter coat and a hat so I was able to brave the deep freeze.)

On the way to Baltimore I stopped off at a local Jo-Ann’s Fabrics & Crafts store to check out the recent sales. I found a bundled pair of slipper socks. The original price was $9.99, which would’ve been a decent price for two pairs of thick socks. But they were on sale for half-price, which meant that I paid $5 for the bundle (or $2.50 per pair).

I took the light rail into the city. I initially went by Harborplace where I saw this ice skating rink.

Since my last visit to Harborplace, I found that the store It’s Sugar had moved from one pavilion to another. (It is now located next to the Ripley’s Believe It or Not Odditorium.)

I purchased a few things for myself on my birthday. Here is this cute gingerbread man cookie I bought.

I purchased this Pez dispenser featuring Badtz-Maru, one of Hello Kitty’s friends.

I bought myself this Guinness Luxury Dark Chocolate Truffle Bar. It was very delicious.

I took a few photos of other items in that store but I didn’t buy any of them.

After my visit to Harborplace I took a couple of photos of the Inner Harbor area at sunset.

I eventually made my way to the Christmas Village in Baltimore.

I’ve been there other years (see the photos I took in 2013, 2014, and 2015). Some of the same vendors were there this year while there were others whom I had never seen before. I also saw some empty booths but I had no idea if fewer vendors signed up or if it was because I came on a Thursday night and some of the missing vendors only worked on the weekends. I had been looking forward to eating some bratwurst with sauerkraut for dinner followed by a Belgian waffle topped with hot fudge and whipped cream for dessert. Unfortunately the waffle place wasn’t there this year, which was a big disappointment. The German food booth was still there so at least I was still able to eat the bratwurst and sauerbraten platter.

I purchased only one item. It was a pack of incense that I got from the large Käthe Wohlfahrt booth that was located at one end of the main tent. I’ve been lighting the incense each night since then so my home can smell like Christmas. (LOL!)

On my way back to the light rail stop, I saw this homeless person laying down under a thin blanket outside the Baltimore Convention Center. Usually I wouldn’t pay this person much notice other than the fact that the Polar Vortex had arrived and the temperatures were forecasted to dip under 20 degrees Fahrenheit over night. (The following morning my AccuWeather app on my smartphone registered 18 degrees Fahrenheit.) I felt that this person should really be indoors but I didn’t know where to turn since I live 30 miles south of Baltimore.

I took the above picture and frantically did Google searches on my smartphone for homeless organizations in Baltimore. I texted the photo to a couple of organizations while indicating where the person was located. For added measure I texted the photo to the Baltimore Police Department. I even uploaded this photo on my Facebook, Instagram and Twitter accounts using people to forward this to anyone who could help bring this person in from the cold. I don’t know if my efforts helped or not other than the fact that for the next few days I did a Google search for any recent homeless deaths in Baltimore outside the Baltimore Convention Center only to turn up empty-handed. I guess this person somehow survived the Polar Vortex but I’ll never know for sure.

Once I reached the North Linthicum Light Rail Station (where my car was parked) I drove over to Glen Burnie. Last year I found out about this overdecorated house on Delmar Avenue and I saw it for the first time on Christmas Eve. This year I decided to check it out again and, yes, it is still just as heavily decorated as it was last year.

The only difference I could tell between this year and last year is the next-door neighbor’s lighted sign that said “DITTO” with an arrow pointed to the other house. (That neighbor’s house didn’t have any outdoor lights at all other than that “DITTO” sign.)

By the way the house on Delmar Avenue has its own Facebook page that you can view to get the latest news and photos about that house.

Last year I shot a bunch of still photos of that house. This year I decided to shoot a video so you can get a sense of the flashing lights (including an animated laser display that’s shown on the garage door) and the constant Christmas music.

I headed home after visiting that house so that was it for celebrating my birthday in Baltimore and Glen Burnie.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

Here are some appropriate photos for the occasion, starting with this bag of Guinness potato chips that I found at a local Wegmans a few weeks ago.

I recently purchased a bag and I tried a few chips yesterday. I found that they have a nice earthy flavor that’s a nice contrast from the other potato chips that are out there. Despite that, I probably won’t be buying this too often because these chips were imported from the U.K. and Wegmans sold them for a whopping $3.99 per bag. (I can get a bag of Utz or Lay’s chips of the same size for around $1-2 per bag.) I recommend them for anyone who wants to try something different.

There is this house in Greenbelt, Maryland that likes to go all out for each holiday. I took pictures of this house around Halloween and Valentine’s Day. That same house decided to decorate for St. Patrick’s Day.

What’s more, there are two windsocks that were hung near the light display.

And, for the last photo of the day, here’s a picture I took at Wegman’s a few days ago. It’s more about March 14 than St. Patrick’s Day but these pies for Pi Day are cute nonetheless.

As for me, I’m going to observe St. Patrick’s Day in the way that I’ve been doing for years. Tonight for dinner I’m going to eat some beef stew made from Guinness beer. Last night I purchased this Irish Soda Bread mix from Aldi (all I need to do is just add milk) so I’m going to whip it up, bake it, and serve it with the beef stew. I also recently purchased some Kerrygold brand garlic and herb butter on sale at Safeway so I’m going to eat the Guinness chips as an appetizer then spread the butter on slices of the newly-baked Irish soda bread and eat them with the beef stew.